As your personal fitness trainer my passion is to teach, coach, understand, push, prod, cajole, investigate, research and apply, over and over… As a ‘Fitness Role Model’…well…I feel vulnerable with weakness, so, in hopes we can all learn, from my own weakness, here goes…My Confession.
Last year I had a number of clients who started stubbornly on the Atkins diet despite my warnings. Immediately I saw almost profound results in their weight loss. I reminded them it was the loss of water weight, and warned of the strain on the kidneys and the high cholesterol risk.
During this time I was mastering my yoga practice as a complete vegan but found that my immune system had been profoundly compromised and I was currently on my third cold for the fall season
Atkins was in the media again because of new study results indicating lowered cholesterol. I went to the Atkins book yet again with a more open mind, and decided to try the diet. I liked the contrarian view point to the current AMA position of the low fat diet, which seemed to be producing a society of increasing obesity. Atkins view of sugar as the culprit making you fat, not fat, made sense and the extra work from all the protein for the kidneys… it’s benign. I wanted to use his diet as a tool to get myself entirely off of any sugar.
I started out on the high protein, low carb aspect of the diet. As I reintroduced the animal proteins into my diet I could feel myself get stronger and the colds, finally stopped. I also saw my muscle bellies start to open and swell again. The cold of winter was not as painful as it had been while on my vegan diet.
I then summoned up the courage to start bringing fats into my diet, including bacon, egg yolks, cream cheese, heavy cream, whipped cream, even bacon rinds. On a daily basis I would marvel at having eaten these “forbidden foods" only to awaken the next day thin, svelte. I couldn’t believe this, result! I was loving eating all these foods so familiar yet banished since …childhood
I was in full swing eating the high fat, high protein, low carb diet at the time when the pictures on my website were taken. www.vitalsignsfitness.com I felt strong, but I had no energy!!! My walks on the beach were lethargic, I had to force myself to go that extra mile. I was thin but I felt like a beached whale. My love affair with Atkins continued a few more months. I followed his prescriptions religiously.
Eventually I had to add more carbs, I needed more energy. By carbs I mean vegetables, salads and whole grains. At this point I gained back the total of two pounds I had lost on Atkins. Body fat went from 16% to 18%, my energy was better. After 7 months I decided it was time to get the blood checked out and to my horror discovered that my cholesterol which had always been around 150 had rocketed up to 300!! Luckily my HDL to LDL ratio was still at a healthy level. Thanks to my forcing myself to exercise, I kept my HDLs high.
I immediately started drinking hot lemon juice with cayenne pepper every morning to clean my blood. I have now thrown away all the high fat foods and have once again, come back full circle to moderation and balance. A balanced diet. It takes a little more discipline but my energy is back and I can now eat the same meals as my husband so dinner preparation is simpler. My weight has not changed since I gradually introduced the carbs. I avoid at all costs the “white foods" flour, sugar, milk. I drink unsweetened soy milk I avoid foods in packages, boxes and bags. I feel a fine layer of fat but that’s okay its winter, I need it, and in the summer, heat always melts it off. I am completely off sugar and alcohol to keep blood sugar low.
Log into www.vitalsignsfitness in the Chat page where a discussion has already begun re: Atkins and other diet plans, add your comments or just read and muse. Or go to the Nutrition Program page and find out how many calories (protein, carbs, fats) you should eat to sustain your current or ideal weight.
Deborah Caruana RN, AAHRFP, NASM, ACE,
www.vitalsignsfitness.com
email deb@vitalsignsfitness.com
Become A Personal Fitness Trainer
Racing for Fitness
Almost 60% of people in the United States are overweight or obese. The consequences of having too much fat on your body can be severe. Obesity is a major cause of many serious illnesses including Type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, high blood pressure and even certain forms of cancer.
It's hard to maintain a fitness routine on your own. On top of that you are bombarded with advertisements selling unhealthy food and gadgets and inventions that actually result in less physical activity. The perfect examples are kids playing electronic games for hours instead of baseball or soccer. There are bigger and better computers and TVs promoting lifestyles with little exercise time included.
Sedentary lifestyles are not good for the body, and neither is junk food. But everyone lives extremely busy lives and fitness and nutrition often take a low priority. A personal fitness and nutrition trainer can help you rearrange your priorities so you place your health top of the list.
When you are young, it's easy to believe good health is forever. But as you age, the truth is slowly revealed. Metabolisms slow naturally. Fat accumulates after years of eating meals with little nutritional value.
Free radicals form unimpeded because the diet has consistently lack antioxidants found in fruits and vegetables. Other diseases eventually take root. For example, lack of exercise increases the chances of developing osteoporosis.
Finding Your Stride
A personal fitness and nutrition trainer can assist you in a number of ways beginning with an assessment of your current fitness level. A personal trainer will work with to establish mutual goals including measures of progress such as weight loss or inches loss.
Personal fitness and nutrition includes the following:
Evaluating current dietary habits and making necessary changes
Calculating the body mass index (BMI)
Establishing an exercise routine that fits your lifestyle
Develop a strength training program
Tracking progress and making necessary adjustments as you progress
Using a personal fitness and nutrition trainer can help you stay motivated as you begin the race for your life. The quality of your life in your senior years is directly related to the level of fitness you maintain in your younger years. It becomes clearer with each medical study that problems associated with aging are as much a consequence of poor nutrition as they are of the aging process itself.
Utilizing the services of a personal fitness and nutrition trainer only makes sense if you're ready to get serious about your health. Racing for the grand prize of good health means finding your "fitness stride".
You don't have to work out 8 hours a day to stay fit and healthy. You do have to exercise regularly and watch what you eat. A personal fitness and nutrition trainer can be the key to your success.
Both Deborah Caruana Rn, Mes, Cpt & Hut Allred are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Deborah Caruana Rn, Mes, Cpt has sinced written about articles on various topics from Personal Trainer, Fitness and Tattoo. DEBORAH is a highly respected authority in personal training for overall health and fitness, with more than 22 years of experience and success.. Deborah Caruana Rn, Mes, Cpt's top article generates over 12100 views. Bookmark Deborah Caruana Rn, Mes, Cpt to your Favourites.
Hut Allred has sinced written about articles on various topics from Personal Trainer, Fitness and Personal Trainer. Hut Allred is the President of New Wave Fitness. Inc. located in Dallas, TX. His Dallas personal training company provides in home personal fitness coaching. Hut Allred's top article generates over 6600 views. Bookmark Hut Allred to your Favourites.
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